


Mama Who Bore Me

by ShippingEverything



Category: Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babysitting, F/F, Kid Fic, Pre-Slash, i might write more for this later, ilse is probably 21, single mom wendla!, tattooed and pierced ilse!, the kid is named charlotte, wendla is 19-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-18 02:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5895055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingEverything/pseuds/ShippingEverything
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or: The single mom pirate queens fic that you didn't know you needed</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mama Who Bore Me

**Author's Note:**

> written in like 40 mins for the kids on twitter

The first time Ilse sees Wendla Bergmann, she’s carrying two bags of groceries and a baby. Her hair is in disarray, she’s wearing a crumpled maternity dress over a pair of baby food stained pajama pants, and she looks exhausted. Ilse watches as she fumbles with the door outside their complex, watches as the baby fusses and the woman automatically starts bouncing to soothe her, watches as she disappears into the building. Ilse thinks, _This must be my new neighbor, the one that moved in this weekend_. Ilse thinks, _I should go help her with her bags_. Ilse thinks, _She’s absolutely beautiful_.

Ilse closes her blinds and retreats back to the design she's working on. She doesn’t open her door when she hears steps in the hall or mumbled singing. She doesn’t introduce herself to the new neighbor.

 

((Ilse catches glimpses of this woman often after that. Ilse wonders what her name is, why she lives here, if she’s okay. Ilse pretends that she doesn’t know why her personal sketchbook is filling up with loose renderings of wrinkled clothes and tiny hands and disheveled hair and a strong woman. But she knows.

She very much knows.))

* * *

Wendla is overwhelmed. Fanny Gabor is supposed to be coming over next week, but having a child is a lot of work and Wendla has been looking for work and a nanny but it’s a bit hard when everything she owns is covered in spit-up and she gets little more than 4 hours of sleep a night. Sometimes, on days like these, Wendla wishes that she had been able to say no to Melchior or said yes to her mother or stayed living with the Gabor’s, but then little Charlotte will look up at her those pretty, clear eyes and-

It’s worth it.

But that doesn’t stop Wendla from bursting into tears when she realizes that she left her keys in her car. She lives on the fourth floor, the elevator is out, and Charlotte has been crying all afternoon because she’s 2 and two years olds cry  _all the time_. Wendla hates the way that Charlotte's voice sounds when it echoes in the stairwell, she doesn't want to have to carry her down and up again, and everything is so _much_ , she's barely more than a child herself, god _why_ did she think she could _do this_ -

“Um.”

Wendla looks up and wipes her eyes as quickly as she can with a baby in her arms. The other person in the hall is taller than Wendla, although that isn’t hard, and her skin is covered with intricate tattoos. The woman furrows her brow, causing two of her eyebrow rings to clank together.

“I’m sorry, this is probably really weird, but my name is Ilse and I’m your neighbor,” Her voice drifts up slightly at the end, like it's a question, but she continues on quickly. “I’ve seen you around, and I heard you out here, and I was wondering if you’re... okay.”

Wendla blinks. Then clears her throat and composes herself, shifting Charlotte to her other hip. “Sorry, I’m just a bit emotional. You know how it is.”

Wendla gestures to Charlotte, which usually gets people to stop asking questions about how okay she is, but Ilse doesn’t look any more assured.

“Well. I just wanted you to know that I don’t really have a job?” Ilse says, then grimaces. “That sounded bad. I have a job, it’s just… I do commission work, online. I don’t work regular hours. I’m free during the day, is what I’m trying to say.”

“Okay?” Wendla says, not exactly sure why this woman is telling her life story. Wendla isn’t the type to judge someone by their looks, especially after what’s happened to her, but Ilse is a bit… twitchy. It’s not _bad_ , per say, just weird.

Ilse shakes her head, her half-shaved hair flopping around with the movement, “Oh god, this is coming out all wrong. What I’m trying to say is, even though this sounds creepy, I heard you firing your last babysitter and I could help you out while you’re looking for a new one? Like, for free?”

Wendla pauses. She shouldn’t leave her child with a stranger, and she knows that Fanny will kill her if she ever finds out, but Ilse seems sweet and well-meaning, if a bit awkward.

“You need a test run,” She decides, thinking of her keys still in her car. She hands Charlotte to Ilse, noting how Ilse automatically adjusts Charlotte in her arms, and nods. “I have to run back to my car. Watch her while I’m gone and maybe we can talk about a more regular thing.”

Ilse looks delighted that Wendla has trusted her and her smile is blinding. Wendla feels her heart jump in a way that it hasn’t since she was with Melchior, before it went wrong.

She turns around and very nearly runs down the stairs, telling herself that she definitely isn’t running from her feelings.

 

((When Wendla comes back upstairs, Ilse is letting Charlotte grab at the many rings on her face--only grimacing a bit even though Wendla _knows_ that it hurts like hell to have a baby pull at an earring, much less how it must feels to have a baby grab at a ring in your _face_. She watches as Charlotte grabs Ilse’s nose ring and _yanks_ , watches as Ilse lets out a high-pitched squeak, watches as Ilse does nothing but gently uncurl Charlotte’s hand from around the ring and say a soft “No, baby, let’s not do that."

Wendla knows then that she’s a goner.))

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Main Tumblr](http://www.bisexualwilliampoindexter.tumblr.com) | [Writing Blog](http://nacreousglowclouds.tumblr.com/) | [Personal Twitter](http://twitter.com/nerdyfanchick)


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